Life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That famous phrase in the
United States Declaration of Independence belies the cornerstone of the
founding of America.

But is the "pursuit of Happiness" part wrecking the country
today? Kurt Andersen of The New York Times opines how American individualism
- undoubtedly the source of the country's greatest achievements, can also
spell its downfall:

then came the late 1960s, and over the next two decades American
individualism was fully unleashed. A kind of tacit grand bargain was
forged between the counterculture and the establishment, between the
forever-young and the moneyed.

Going forward, the youthful masses of every age would be permitted
as never before to indulge their self-expressive and hedonistic impulses.
But capitalists in return would be unshackled as well, free to indulge
their own animal spirits with fewer and fewer fetters in the forms of
regulation, taxes or social opprobrium.

“Do your own thing” is not so different than “every
man for himself.” If it feels good, do it, whether that means
smoking weed and watching porn and never wearing a necktie, retiring
at 50 with a six-figure public pension and refusing modest gun regulation,
or moving your factories overseas and letting commercial banks become
financial speculators. The self-absorbed “Me” Decade, having
expanded during the ’80s and ’90s from personal life to
encompass the political economy, will soon be the “Me” Half-Century.

Oh look, an anti-capitalist rant from the NY Times... How unexpected! Some folk still do not understand the difference between self interest and selfishness. Don't let those people sour you on the vast majority of humanity.(even the capitalists)

Some one needs to read a bit more history. There have been times since the 60s that things loosened up a bit here and there but all in all there has been a constant trend of adding lay upon layer of laws, rules and regulation with the occasional and very minuscule back slide being the rear exception and not the rule. I really love the ‘When I was growing up in Omaha…’ rant. As if his experience as a kid in a little neighborhood of a medium sized city in a medium sized state could possibly be a national average. Some how he has seen fit not to have ever noticed the hundreds of huge, grand and expensive homes built in other places like Hearst Castle completed in 1947 on the west coast or the Biltmore Estate in the East built in 1895. But since this young kid did not see them when he walked to his neighborhood ice cream shop they must not count.

In England, at the time, many professions were controlled by Guilds. If you wanted to be a shoemaker, for example, you couldn't just set up shop. You needed to be a member of the Shoemaker's Guild, and rise through their ranks as an apprentice, then only with their permission, could you go into business for yourself.

These guilds were notoriously corrupt. They demanded extortionate fees at every turn, and those in charge exacted bribes. In many cases, you had to be sponsored into a guild by a family member.

In the language of the time, one's "pursuit" was one's occupation. Thus the argument is made that the "pursuit of happiness" could be translated into more modern language as "career of preference". In the minds of the authors, this phrase conveys that everyone should be permitted to engage in whatever means of craft or employment they wish, and has little to do with a freedom to engage in any activity they like, as long as it makes them happy.